UIADI chief Nandan Nilekani picks up 1.17% in Dhanlaxmi Bank

Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIADI) and co-founder of the country's second largest software firm Infosys, has acquired a stake of a little over 1 per cent in Kerala-based Dhanlaxmi Bank.

According to the latest shareholding pattern filed by Dhanlaxmi Bank with stock exchanges, Nilekani holds 9,93,827 shares in the bank, which translates into 1.17 per cent of the total outstanding stock of the private sector lender as on 31 March 2011.

Nilekani picked up the stake from the open market.

Dhanlaxmi Bank Ltd was incorporated in 1927 at Thrissur, Kerala, by a group of entrepreneurs and is among the few banks in the country which is not associated with any promoter group. Apart from Nilekani, there are 22 shareholders with stakes between 1 and 7 per cent.

Nilekani and his family currently hold 3.44-per cent stake in Infosys, making them the second largest promoter in the software firm after the company's mentor N R Narayana Murthy and his family.

Dhanlaxmi seems to be hot property at the moment, going by the high-profile investors. Apart from Nilekani, Birla Sun Life Insurance has picked up close to 3 per cent in the bank. Over the last three months, State Bank of India has also increased its stake to over 1 per cent through one of its subsidiaries, SBI Tax Advantage Fund. Together, SBI and its affiliates hold 2.69 per cent in Dhanlaxmi.

Nilekani was the chief executive of Infosys from 2002 to 2007, when he relinquished his position to his colleague Kris Gopalakrishnan, becoming co-chairman. He left Infosys in 2009, when he accepeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's invitation to head the UIDAI.